For most of us, the act of breathing could be described as easy. It is something we can do without thinking or giving a second thought. We are even able to do it while we are unconscious or asleep, so what training or education do we really need on the topic? There is actually a lot more to breathing than just the mere action. In this article, I will teach you some breathing techniques that will help you feel healthier, sleep better, lift heavier and overall just experience more out of life.
Oxygen feeds and nourishes every muscle and organ inside our body, helping us both mentally and physically. There is not a part of our body that does not rely on it. We bring oxygen in by inhaling and send it back out as carbon dioxide by exhaling; this whole process we also know as breathing. Breathing the right way will lead to a multitude of benefits like better sleep, more oxygen to the brain for clearer thinking, more air to our lungs and muscles for more repetitions. Practicing proper breathing exercises will get us further on our runs, higher up the mountain on hikes, and deeper underwater on our sea cave dives.
In order to maximize our body’s full potential, we not only need to be breathing correctly but also need to be getting plenty of sleep. I personally have a love-hate relationship with sleep. I am sure many of us do. We toss and turn at night trying to fall asleep and battle our snooze button trying to wake up in the morning. The latter is on you, but I can at least help you with the falling asleep part. Many times we are lying in bed struggling to pass out because we either have too much on our mind or we drank a tad too much caffeine late into the day. Caffeine stays in our system for around 10 hours so think twice next time before you reach for that afternoon cup of joe. Sometimes things can not be helped and we are caught wide awake in the midst of the night, telling ourselves that we really should be sleeping and refueling for the next day, giving ourselves more to stress about and keeping us up even later. Next time you are having trouble sleeping or just got in a heated argument with your significant other and need to calm down, perform this breathing exercise:
4-7-8 breathing
Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds. Hold for 7 seconds. Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat.
See! Don’t you feel more relaxed already? This breathing exercise is very similar to a technique called box breathing which is the same steps just 4-4-4 (seconds). Either technique will work effectively. Slow, deep, controlled breathing helps relax your brain, that is why the box breathing or 4-7-8 technique above works so well to reduce stress, put our minds at ease and slow down our heart rate.
Now when it comes to exercising we want the opposite of relaxation so we breathe rapidly (hyperventilate), which results in an increase in our heart rate. With an increase in heart rate, blood pumps faster to our muscles giving us more energy to expend, helping us lift heavier and get a few more repetitions in. Perform a few short rapid breaths before you start your next set and undoubtedly you will see some extra pump and adrenaline.
Depending on your workout there are different breathing strategies as well. During cardio activities (running, biking, etc) you want to inhale more than you exhale and when lifting you want to inhale the same amount that you exhale. Also with lifting, exhale as you lift the weight and inhale as you go back to your starting position. Try to maintain a good rhythm and habit of all this and your workouts will only get better, your muscles will get bigger and you undoubtedly will be stronger. Breathing will become second nature once again.
On a regular, you should learn to breathe solely through your nose. Breathing through the nose uses our lower lungs which send the inhaled oxygen to the rest of our body; while breathing through our mouth is more just a form of support for more air or when our nose is congested. Let us perform an exercise to experience the difference. Pinch your nose and breathe through only through your mouth for a brief period. Now cover your mouth and breathe through only your nose. Which exercise feels better? Breathing through your nose I bet. Now, why not just breathe through both at the same time every time? I know earlier we talked about how more oxygen means more energy for our muscles, but be wary that you can actually consume too much oxygen and exhale too much carbon dioxide, especially if you are accustomed to mouth breathing. When you release too much carbon dioxide your blood vessels constrict resulting in your heart having to work harder to send oxygen to the rest of your body. Over breathing can result in poor sleep and sleep apnea which leads to health issues like high blood pressure, heart complications, diabetes, and depression. So if you do not already, practice getting into the habit of breathing just with your nose. One way to really enforce this technique is taping your mouth shut while you sleep and forcing your body to adapt, to breathe only through your nose. It sounds silly, but you actually learn this skill pretty quickly through the use of tape and you will find yourself breathing solely through your nose naturally and subconsciously.
Remember practice makes perfect and breathing is no different. It is something our bodies have learned to do on their own since birth, but this skill can always be fine-tuned. 4-7-8 and box breathing can be applied to things like meditation or yoga, and will even come in handy when you need to calm your nerves as you walk into a job interview or when taking a timed test. Breathing through your nose leads to better sleep and a healthier stronger body, it will also help train your body to take deeper breaths and hold it for longer periods of time.
I hope these practices assist you in a multitude of ways, may it be getting a better night’s sleep or scaling your next Everest. If you found this article helpful please share HealthyMale with your friends or workout buddies. You never know who needs a little reminder to… Just Breathe.
